Omar Suleiman – The Story of My Very First Halaqa

00:00:01 --> 00:00:04

			Alright everyone, assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, wa salamu
		

00:00:04 --> 00:00:05

			alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, wa salamu ala
		

00:00:05 --> 00:00:07

			alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala.
		

00:00:07 --> 00:00:11

			So, interestingly enough, I asked on a community
		

00:00:11 --> 00:00:14

			poll what you all thought was the very
		

00:00:14 --> 00:00:15

			first halaqa that I'd ever given in my
		

00:00:15 --> 00:00:20

			life, and the correct answer, at least at
		

00:00:20 --> 00:00:22

			the time of recording this video, only had
		

00:00:22 --> 00:00:26

			16%, and that is a subject on the
		

00:00:26 --> 00:00:29

			virtues of Sayyidina Uthman radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
		

00:00:29 --> 00:00:30

			And I have to say, by the way,
		

00:00:30 --> 00:00:32

			because we've got to give this sister credit,
		

00:00:32 --> 00:00:34

			we had to delete the comment of Sister
		

00:00:34 --> 00:00:37

			Fatima Abdullahi, who not only got the answer
		

00:00:37 --> 00:00:39

			correct, but was able to mention that I
		

00:00:39 --> 00:00:42

			had mentioned this in a lecture in the
		

00:00:42 --> 00:00:45

			first on the topic of Uthman ibn Affan
		

00:00:45 --> 00:00:46

			radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
		

00:00:46 --> 00:00:48

			So, you know, may Allah reward you, mashaAllah,
		

00:00:49 --> 00:00:51

			you were able to reference exactly where I
		

00:00:51 --> 00:00:52

			had mentioned that it was my first halaqa.
		

00:00:53 --> 00:00:55

			But what is the story of this halaqa,
		

00:00:55 --> 00:00:57

			and why Uthman radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu?
		

00:00:57 --> 00:01:02

			So this was 2003 at the Islamic Center
		

00:01:02 --> 00:01:03

			of Baton Rouge.
		

00:01:03 --> 00:01:05

			Baton Rouge is in Louisiana.
		

00:01:06 --> 00:01:07

			For those of you that speak French, Baton
		

00:01:07 --> 00:01:12

			Rouge, literally the red stick, but everyone pronounces
		

00:01:12 --> 00:01:15

			it Baton Rouge from Louisiana, here in the
		

00:01:15 --> 00:01:16

			United States of America.
		

00:01:16 --> 00:01:20

			So I was doing this halaqa, or I
		

00:01:20 --> 00:01:21

			was given the opportunity rather to do a
		

00:01:21 --> 00:01:23

			halaqa at the masjid, and this was sort
		

00:01:23 --> 00:01:25

			of my first community-wide halaqa.
		

00:01:25 --> 00:01:28

			So before that, I've obviously done youth halaqas
		

00:01:28 --> 00:01:30

			and spoken to people in camps and things
		

00:01:30 --> 00:01:32

			of that sort, but my first actual public
		

00:01:32 --> 00:01:33

			lecture.
		

00:01:34 --> 00:01:36

			So I chose Uthman radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu,
		

00:01:36 --> 00:01:37

			and it was very surprising to people why
		

00:01:37 --> 00:01:40

			I chose the topic of Uthman radhiAllahu ta
		

00:01:40 --> 00:01:40

			'ala anhu.
		

00:01:41 --> 00:01:43

			And I don't think even I fully appreciated
		

00:01:43 --> 00:01:46

			why I chose Uthman radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu
		

00:01:46 --> 00:01:50

			so much until, you know, almost 20 years
		

00:01:50 --> 00:01:51

			later.
		

00:01:51 --> 00:01:53

			So let me give you this background.
		

00:01:53 --> 00:01:57

			When I started studying the lives of the
		

00:01:57 --> 00:02:00

			companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, radhiAllahu
		

00:02:00 --> 00:02:03

			ta'ala alayhim, I fell in love with
		

00:02:03 --> 00:02:05

			the sahaba as a whole, as a generation,
		

00:02:06 --> 00:02:08

			and the family of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
		

00:02:08 --> 00:02:10

			wasallam as an entire family.
		

00:02:10 --> 00:02:12

			And I've always been big on history, and
		

00:02:12 --> 00:02:14

			you'll notice this in my lectures.
		

00:02:15 --> 00:02:16

			I love to reference biographies.
		

00:02:16 --> 00:02:18

			So my favorite genre of books is in
		

00:02:18 --> 00:02:21

			fact autobiographies, and then biographies.
		

00:02:22 --> 00:02:24

			Now when we were going through the lives
		

00:02:24 --> 00:02:26

			of the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
		

00:02:26 --> 00:02:28

			wasallam, going through the life of Abu Bakr
		

00:02:28 --> 00:02:30

			as-Siddiq radhiAllahu anhu, and he is the
		

00:02:30 --> 00:02:31

			best of the best, right?
		

00:02:32 --> 00:02:33

			Everything about him shines.
		

00:02:34 --> 00:02:37

			Sayyidina Umar radhiAllahu anhu, who I'm named after
		

00:02:37 --> 00:02:39

			obviously, and I have deep love and respect
		

00:02:39 --> 00:02:42

			for Sayyidina Umar radhiAllahu anhu, and he's probably,
		

00:02:42 --> 00:02:45

			you know, the favorite companion of many many
		

00:02:45 --> 00:02:45

			many people.
		

00:02:46 --> 00:02:48

			Sayyidina Ali radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, his courage,
		

00:02:48 --> 00:02:50

			his bravery, his closeness to the Prophet sallallahu
		

00:02:50 --> 00:02:51

			alayhi wasallam.
		

00:02:51 --> 00:02:53

			So celebrated, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and I
		

00:02:53 --> 00:02:56

			loved Ali radhiAllahu anhu, especially as a young
		

00:02:56 --> 00:02:58

			person being able to relate to that young
		

00:02:58 --> 00:02:59

			person that stands out, right?
		

00:02:59 --> 00:03:02

			And that fights for his principles very early
		

00:03:02 --> 00:03:05

			on, and insists upon that belief in Allah
		

00:03:05 --> 00:03:08

			and the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and dedicates
		

00:03:08 --> 00:03:10

			himself to the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
		

00:03:10 --> 00:03:13

			So I felt like when we got to
		

00:03:13 --> 00:03:15

			the life of Uthman radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu,
		

00:03:16 --> 00:03:18

			like there was a great injustice that's been
		

00:03:18 --> 00:03:21

			done to him, and the injustice first and
		

00:03:21 --> 00:03:24

			foremost is that we really don't talk about
		

00:03:24 --> 00:03:28

			his virtues enough, and it's perhaps his shyness
		

00:03:28 --> 00:03:32

			and his modesty subhanAllah, which is exactly why
		

00:03:32 --> 00:03:34

			he was loved so much by Allah and
		

00:03:34 --> 00:03:37

			by the angels who were shy from him,
		

00:03:37 --> 00:03:39

			and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam who was
		

00:03:39 --> 00:03:41

			shy from him, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhum, but
		

00:03:41 --> 00:03:44

			it's his bashfulness perhaps that allows him to
		

00:03:44 --> 00:03:47

			be situated amongst the four and not spoken
		

00:03:47 --> 00:03:50

			about nearly as much as he needs to
		

00:03:50 --> 00:03:53

			be spoken about, and it was particularly, you
		

00:03:53 --> 00:03:57

			know, that reason that he did so much.
		

00:03:57 --> 00:03:59

			You know, Allah talks about people that are
		

00:03:59 --> 00:04:05

			generous, but people that void their charity, their
		

00:04:05 --> 00:04:07

			generosity because they boast about their charity, and
		

00:04:07 --> 00:04:10

			they hurt people when they give them charity,
		

00:04:10 --> 00:04:11

			right?
		

00:04:11 --> 00:04:12

			So it's almost like you wish they wouldn't
		

00:04:12 --> 00:04:15

			give you charity because of how rude and
		

00:04:15 --> 00:04:16

			how nasty they actually are.
		

00:04:17 --> 00:04:19

			But when it comes to Sayyidina Uthman radhiAllahu
		

00:04:19 --> 00:04:22

			anhu, he never boasted about his charity and
		

00:04:22 --> 00:04:24

			he didn't harm people with his charity.
		

00:04:25 --> 00:04:27

			Rather his charity continues to benefit until today,
		

00:04:27 --> 00:04:31

			the waqf of Uthman radhiAllahu anhu, the endowment
		

00:04:31 --> 00:04:32

			of Uthman is in the hundreds of millions
		

00:04:32 --> 00:04:35

			of dollars, still sustaining parts of Medina until
		

00:04:35 --> 00:04:35

			now.
		

00:04:35 --> 00:04:38

			So his sadaqa is still running, radhiAllahu ta
		

00:04:38 --> 00:04:40

			'ala anhum, And what I realized, you know,
		

00:04:41 --> 00:04:44

			later on and of course this was one
		

00:04:44 --> 00:04:45

			of my motivations back then, but now I
		

00:04:45 --> 00:04:48

			really strongly feel attached to that, is what
		

00:04:48 --> 00:04:51

			got me attached to Uthman radhiAllahu anhu was
		

00:04:51 --> 00:04:53

			the fact that he did so much for
		

00:04:53 --> 00:04:55

			this ummah and I felt like a great
		

00:04:55 --> 00:04:57

			injustice had been done towards him in his
		

00:04:57 --> 00:05:01

			assassination and at a deeper level, right?
		

00:05:01 --> 00:05:04

			The fact that his generosity was thrown right
		

00:05:04 --> 00:05:04

			back in his face.
		

00:05:04 --> 00:05:07

			So Uthman radhiAllahu anhu was forbidden from praying
		

00:05:07 --> 00:05:10

			in the very masjid that he constructed that
		

00:05:10 --> 00:05:11

			he expanded.
		

00:05:11 --> 00:05:13

			He was forbidden from drinking from the same
		

00:05:13 --> 00:05:16

			well that he purchased for the Muslims and
		

00:05:16 --> 00:05:18

			the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam guaranteed him Jannah
		

00:05:18 --> 00:05:18

			as a result of that.
		

00:05:19 --> 00:05:22

			And on top of that, subhanAllah, you know,
		

00:05:22 --> 00:05:25

			many people who do things insincerely, right?
		

00:05:26 --> 00:05:29

			When the curtain comes down, if you will,
		

00:05:30 --> 00:05:32

			then they show their true colors, right?
		

00:05:32 --> 00:05:35

			So for Uthman radhiAllahu anhu was insincere.
		

00:05:35 --> 00:05:37

			Look, this man was loved for his charity
		

00:05:37 --> 00:05:39

			in Jahli and in Islam, in the days
		

00:05:39 --> 00:05:40

			of ignorance and in Islam.
		

00:05:40 --> 00:05:44

			People loved Sayyidina Uthman radhiAllahu anhu and if
		

00:05:44 --> 00:05:47

			his generosity was to be praised by the
		

00:05:47 --> 00:05:48

			people and if it was for the people
		

00:05:48 --> 00:05:51

			not for Allah, then his generosity would have
		

00:05:51 --> 00:05:53

			run out with the people once the people
		

00:05:53 --> 00:05:54

			turned on him.
		

00:05:54 --> 00:05:56

			Once you had these young people that had,
		

00:05:56 --> 00:05:59

			you know, unfortunately consumed so much slander about
		

00:05:59 --> 00:06:01

			him and circulated so many lies about him
		

00:06:01 --> 00:06:02

			that they thought they were killing him for
		

00:06:02 --> 00:06:03

			the sake of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
		

00:06:04 --> 00:06:06

			But look at the generosity of Uthman radhiAllahu
		

00:06:06 --> 00:06:08

			anhu for the sake of Allah.
		

00:06:08 --> 00:06:11

			Uthman radhiAllahu anhu refused to let a single
		

00:06:11 --> 00:06:13

			drop of blood be spilled in his cause.
		

00:06:13 --> 00:06:16

			So he's stopping Ali radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu,
		

00:06:16 --> 00:06:18

			he's stopping Talha wa Zubair radhiAllahu anhuma from
		

00:06:18 --> 00:06:21

			spilling blood in his cause and that is
		

00:06:21 --> 00:06:24

			his continued goodwill towards the Muslims because his
		

00:06:24 --> 00:06:27

			generosity was for the sake of Allah subhanahu
		

00:06:27 --> 00:06:27

			wa'ta'ala.
		

00:06:27 --> 00:06:29

			So it hurt me when I studied his
		

00:06:29 --> 00:06:33

			story and honestly till now because of the
		

00:06:33 --> 00:06:35

			idea of injustice that was done towards him
		

00:06:35 --> 00:06:38

			with everything that he did for the Ummah,
		

00:06:38 --> 00:06:40

			but innaAllaha laa yudhi'u ajala al-muhsineen
		

00:06:40 --> 00:06:42

			Allah does not let the reward of the
		

00:06:42 --> 00:06:43

			good doers go to waste and so we
		

00:06:43 --> 00:06:46

			still see the legacy of Uthman radhiAllahu anhu
		

00:06:46 --> 00:06:48

			today and we still celebrate him as we
		

00:06:48 --> 00:06:49

			should today.
		

00:06:50 --> 00:06:51

			So this was my first halaqa.
		

00:06:51 --> 00:06:52

			So it was in the Islamic Center of
		

00:06:52 --> 00:06:54

			Baton Rouge and subhanAllah it was very special
		

00:06:54 --> 00:06:54

			to me.
		

00:06:56 --> 00:06:58

			The idea some of you are familiar with
		

00:06:58 --> 00:07:00

			the work of Muhsin, Muslims understanding and helping
		

00:07:00 --> 00:07:03

			with special education needs which is really about
		

00:07:03 --> 00:07:05

			making the masajid more accessible to people in
		

00:07:05 --> 00:07:05

			special needs.
		

00:07:06 --> 00:07:07

			My mother may Allah have mercy on her
		

00:07:07 --> 00:07:10

			attended that lecture, but she couldn't see me
		

00:07:10 --> 00:07:12

			giving that lecture and she was partially deaf.
		

00:07:13 --> 00:07:15

			She wasn't blind, but the way the masjid
		

00:07:15 --> 00:07:18

			was constructed, she wasn't able to sit and
		

00:07:18 --> 00:07:19

			see me while I was delivering the lecture
		

00:07:19 --> 00:07:22

			and she couldn't really hear what was being
		

00:07:22 --> 00:07:23

			said but she was just so happy to
		

00:07:23 --> 00:07:25

			be there in the masjid at the time.
		

00:07:25 --> 00:07:27

			I was giving that lecture and I remember
		

00:07:27 --> 00:07:30

			her, you know saying that she was looking
		

00:07:30 --> 00:07:32

			at the faces of other people crying when
		

00:07:32 --> 00:07:34

			we got towards the end of the lecture.
		

00:07:34 --> 00:07:35

			So she was kind of feeding off of
		

00:07:35 --> 00:07:37

			the energy of other people that were able
		

00:07:37 --> 00:07:39

			to hear the halaqa and that was something
		

00:07:39 --> 00:07:41

			that moved me deeply at the time.
		

00:07:41 --> 00:07:44

			I also remember subhanAllah people asked me did
		

00:07:44 --> 00:07:48

			you get nervous with your public speaking or
		

00:07:48 --> 00:07:49

			do you get nervous when you address a
		

00:07:49 --> 00:07:50

			public audience?
		

00:07:51 --> 00:07:55

			The first 6-7 minutes of that lecture
		

00:07:55 --> 00:07:56

			my hand was shaking.
		

00:07:56 --> 00:07:57

			I was holding a paper.
		

00:07:58 --> 00:07:59

			They didn't have iPads back then, right?
		

00:07:59 --> 00:08:02

			My hand was shaking and I was extremely
		

00:08:02 --> 00:08:02

			nervous.
		

00:08:03 --> 00:08:06

			After that, I really can say that, you
		

00:08:06 --> 00:08:08

			know, once I started talking about Islam and
		

00:08:08 --> 00:08:10

			really felt like I was telling a friend
		

00:08:10 --> 00:08:13

			about a friend, someone that I love so
		

00:08:13 --> 00:08:16

			much, I got comfortable and really, you know,
		

00:08:16 --> 00:08:18

			I tell people from that day subhanAllah, like
		

00:08:18 --> 00:08:22

			I the anxiety of public speaking almost went
		

00:08:22 --> 00:08:24

			away from me entirely from that very first
		

00:08:24 --> 00:08:26

			halaqa, you know, after the first part of
		

00:08:26 --> 00:08:28

			it when I got into the story of
		

00:08:28 --> 00:08:29

			Uthman r.a. and when it was like
		

00:08:29 --> 00:08:31

			having a conversation about someone that I love
		

00:08:31 --> 00:08:33

			to people that I knew.
		

00:08:34 --> 00:08:36

			So that was the story of my first
		

00:08:36 --> 00:08:42

			halaqa and I think that, you know, till
		

00:08:42 --> 00:08:43

			now when I get into the first and
		

00:08:43 --> 00:08:45

			the stories of the sahabah, that's where I
		

00:08:45 --> 00:08:47

			really find my deepest passion.
		

00:08:47 --> 00:08:48

			May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala be pleased with
		

00:08:48 --> 00:08:50

			them and join us with our beloved salallahu
		

00:08:50 --> 00:08:50

			alayhi wa sallam.
		

00:08:51 --> 00:08:52

			JazakAllah khair for joining.
		

00:08:52 --> 00:08:53

			InshaAllah ta'ala I'll shoot you another community
		

00:08:53 --> 00:08:56

			poll soon and continue to tell you some
		

00:08:56 --> 00:08:56

			stories.
		

00:08:56 --> 00:08:57

			Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.